Waylon Jennings' son Shooter has announced an exciting project to commemorate the late country star, who passed away in 2002. After coming across recordings his father made, Shooter — who makes music and produces — has compiled three albums worth of unreleased music from the singer-songwriter. The first is Songbird. The title track is out now, and it's a Fleetwood Mac cover.
"In the summer of 2024, I began digging through and cataloging the hundreds of high-resolution multitrack transfers of my father's personal studio recordings," Shooter began the statement on social media. He continued:
Having just started a long-term residency in the legendary Sunset Sound Studio 3, and with the help of Nate Haessly, I spent months examining these tapes. I was hoping that I might find some recordings that the world had not heard before. What I found was an audio record of an incredibly profound artist and his legendary band through their peak period of creative expansion.
What became very apparent to me was that my dad was recording constantly with his band The Waylors between tours. Just having won the David-and-Goliath battle against RCA for creative control and artistic freedom, Waylon was awarded the ability to record his music on his terms in his own studios, with his touring band, and without label oversight and without any outside influence.
There was just so much inside, my mind was blown! These weren't demos, these were songs that were cut with the intention of releasing, and as time went on, not all of them found places on the albums that Waylon and the Waylors were releasing at the time. And as my dad's career went on, and the sound of the mid-to-late 80's marched on towards a new digital recording frontier, these classic recordings were put to rest.
After getting an idea of what I was sitting on, I realized that there was enough here to make three very special albums, made for the fans. Although most of the material was fully finished, in the cases of the few songs that might have 'needed something else', I brought in some of the remaining Waylors (Jerry Bridges, Carter and Barny Robertson and Gordon Payne) to help me put the final touches on the work. I also brought in my very good friends Elizabeth Cook and Ashley Monroe to help take the title track to new heights.
I then mixed this material in a purely analog fashion on the beautiful, custom 1976 DeMedio API mixing board that lives in Sunset Sound Studio 3.
Songbird is the beginning of Waylon's return to the modern world. This is the first of three gifts from me to you: the fans that have kept my father's voice, songs and legacy alive all these years. The next few years are going to be full of some of the most exciting musical moments that the world never knew they were going to hear. I hope that these records bring the kind of joy to you that they have brought me.
This project has given me an entirely new chapter in my relationship with my father and working on this music has brought a whole new understanding about how, when and why my dad made music. The hard work is there on the tapes and the passion and the soul within is as alive today as it was the day it was recorded.
Enough explaining, just put the damn record on... and remember:
Waylon Jennings is Still The King!
-Shooter Jennings
"Songbird" comes from the 1977 classic Rumours and was released as the b-side of "Dreams." Hear Waylon Jennings' rendition below.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3mRJgF_ssNw
https://www.instagram.com/p/DK7Vf-is37T/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
Songbird is out 10/3 via Son Of Jessi/Thirty Tigers. Pre-order it here.
